[Editor's note: URLs
mentioned in this article appear in the chart
that follows.]

Teachable
moments are treasured learning experiences. They can happen anytime, anywhere
for teachers as well as students. For me it happened on a warm spring day
as I was helping my friend plant her flower garden. Her husband was mowing
their five acres of land. The property is situated at the corner of two
busy roads in a fast-growing suburban area. Behind their house is a wooded
ravine with a creek that feeds into a river.

As her husband
made one of his turns near the house, he shut off the engine and said he
thought there was a baby raccoon in the yard. He was not sure if it was
alive. We dropped everything and went to see. Indeed the baby was alive,
and upon further investigation we discovered three more babies in the hollow
of a giant maple tree. They were making quite a racket. Although I had
grown up on a farm, I had never heard the sounds of a raccoon that range
from soft coos to distressing chortles.

We wondered
if the mother had left them to get food. We soon realized she was not coming
back. Only a few feet away lay a raccoon that had been hit by a car. These
baby raccoons were orphans. We pondered what to do since we knew we could
not raise raccoons. My friend called the county wildlife agent who told
her to bring them into their facility. Since this was Sunday that task
would remain for the next day.

In the meantime
we had an idea. Why not videotape the little critters and do some sort
of educational piece for teachers and students. I dashed home and grabbed
my digital movie camera. We spent about an hour capturing their movements
and sound on film. My friend even brought out her kitchen scale and a measuring
tape. We began with one raccoon on the ground, then two more dropped out.
Finally, we had three babies on the ground and one who remained in the
tree. We later found that this guy was the smallest of the four and probably
was not able or too scared to climb from the safety of the nest. We placed
all four babies in a large garbage can for the night to protect them from
predators and the possibility that they might wander onto the road. The
next morning they were taken to the wildlife facility.

Next, we
had to decide what to do with the information and how to present it to
the educational community. My friend suggested we re-purpose a Big6 workshop
on raccoons into activities for students, make a movie from the footage,
and create Web pages. The following activities were developed for you to
use with students. The Big6 Information Access Skills serve as a framework
for teaching students how to research the Web.

IntroductionUsing raccoons
as the topic, we will go through the six steps of the Big6 Information
Access Skills and how to find resources on the Web.

1.
Task Definition
What question(s)
are you trying to answer?
What do
you want to know about raccoons?
Where do
raccoons live?
What do
raccoons eat?
What sounds
do they make?

Activity:
Think of
other questions and write them down.

2. Information
Seeking
Brainstorm
all the places you might go to find resources that would help you answer
your questions.
Some examples
are wildlife refuge, CD-ROMs, books, interviews with naturalists, and Web
resources.

Activity:
To find
information on the Web, you will need to brainstorm words or phrases to
search. Make a list of keywords or phrases you might use to find information
about raccoons such as raccoon habitat or raccoon food. Write these down
on a piece of paper or in a word-processing program.

3. Information
Seeking
How do you
find information about raccoons on the Web? One way is to use a search
engine. Other ways include starting points, ask an expert, and sites bookmarked
by your teacher.

Search
Engines
A search
engine indexes Web sites. You type in words or phases and a list of sites
is returned about your topic. Sometimes the list does not give you what
you expected. Try different words and phrases until you find information
about your topic.

Search engines
use different methods for searching and finding Web sites on a subject.
You will want to look at the directions and tips at each search site for
complete details.

Internet
Search Tools Quick Reference Guide

http://www.itrc.ucf.edu/iqr/For a quick
guide to search engines, try this reference published by the SouthEast
Initiatives Regional Technology in Education Consortium (SEIR*TEC). You
can quickly look at a grid of search engines and view how to search using
quotes, keywords, or other connectors. In addition, the guide suggests
specific sites depending on whether you want to browse a broad topic or
search a specific database. Best of all, you can print the PDF file and
keep the guide next to the computer as a handy reference or send for free
copies.

1. Go to
Google.
2. Click
on Advanced search.
3. Type
raccoons in the "with all words" search box.
4. Print
the first page of your results.
5. Next
type raccoon habitat in the "with the exact phrase" box.
6. Print
the first page of your results and compare the two searches.

AltaVista
http://www.altavista.comAltaVista
uses the Boolean method for searching. Boolean is a big word, but it means
you can use connecting words to help you search. Examples of connecting
words are and, or, not, near.

You can also
search by phrase or natural language. For example you can ask a question
like, 'What do raccoons eat?' When using a natural language search, you
may get hits that have nothing to do with raccoons.

Another feature
available with AltaVista is the image search.

Activity:
1. Go to
AltaVista.
2. Click
on advanced search.
3. Type
raccoons and habitat near food. This means you are searching pages that
contain both raccoons and habitat, and the word food is near these words.
4. Print
the first page of your results.
5. Next
click on images at the top of the advanced search screen.
6. Type
the
word raccoons and click on search.
7. What
kind of pictures did you see? Were there any you could use in your raccoon
project?

Dogpile
http://www.dogpile.comDogpile
and other meta search sites let you ask several search engines at one time
and then retrieve the top hits. This can be a time-saver. However, there
are occasions where sites are duplicated several times or useful information
is not retrieved. Experiment and see how it works for you.

If you are
a K-12 student, KidsConnect is one place to go to ask a question. It is
not a place for help on an assignment due tomorrow. A volunteer school
librarian will usually get back to you in 2 school days. You will be given
suggestions of good Web sites and other resources that will help with your
project.

4.
Use of Information
How do you
know the information is reliable? Can you use photographs and music in
projects without violating copyright? How do you cite resources or give
credit to the people who wrote the material, took the photographs, or created
the music?

Selecting
Content to Use in your Report or Project
Look at
other Web sites about raccoons. After evaluating the information, you can
create a folder of bookmarks of the sites that will be best for your report.

Copyright
Copyright
is the law of the United States that protects the works of authors, artists,
composers, and other from being used without permission. It is important
to know what you can and cannot use from the Web when you are creating
your presentations and projects.

The most
practical tool for you to use for citing your references is the Web-based
program called Noodletools. You type in the information about your resources
and Noodletools creates a bibliography that you can save or print.

5.
Synthesis
Putting
together your report or project is the most fun. Be organized. Storyboard
your ideas. Inspiration and Kidspiration software programs are great tools
for this task. If you want to use technology for your presentation, try
a word-processing program, Microsoft Publisher, PowerPoint, HyperStudio,
or a Web page.

Activity:
Create a
presentation about raccoons using one of these technology tools.

6.
Evaluation
Did I show
what I learned? This is called evaluation.
While you
are working on your project you may share your ideas with your classmates
for their comments. You may evaluate your own work using a checklist. Your
teacher may give you a rubric or criteria to follow.

Out of the Hollow
and into Your HandsWhat makes
this a very special article is the fact that a companion Web site was created
so that you and your students can see the four baby raccoons in action
and hear their various sounds. The movie was created in iMovie on an iMac
computer. The camera we used is a Sony Digital 8 with a fire wire cable.
The fire wire cable allows the film to be imported into iMovie with great
ease. We hope you will share the story, the activities, and the experience
with your students.

Raccoon Rescuehttp://www.raccoonrescue.com/facts/Raccoon
Rescue is an organization dedicated to rescuing and relocating wildlife.
The Web site is loaded with facts and photographs about the humane treatment
of raccoons.

Linda Joseph is the author
of Net Curriculum: An Educator’s
Guide to Using the Internet, published by CyberAge Books. The recipient
of numerous awards, in addition to her work in the Columbus Public Schools
and the Library of Congress, Linda is a part-time instructor for Ohio State
University. Communications to the author may be addressed to her at Columbus
Public Schools, 737 East Hudson Street, Columbus, OH 43211; 614/365-5277;
ljoseph@iwaynet.net.